Our Biggest Water Hog

When Central Florida's worst modern drought drained lakes and spawned wildfires a few years ago, alarmed authorities banned lawn watering on all but two days a week.

It was an emergency measure that will now become a permanent conservation requirement throughout much of Central Florida beginning March 1.

Welcome to never-ending water worries, where a booming population and unrelenting expansion of newly sodded and thirsty yards have become as much a threat to drinking-water supplies as a savage drought.

The drought, which ran roughly from 1998 into 2002, opened Central Florida's eyes to a looming water-shortage problem that runs deeper than just a cyclical drought. The region is rapidly nearing the day when underground water supplies aren't enough to meet growing demand. Making lawn-watering restrictions permanent is a sign that tougher conservation measures are needed.

"People can still have their lawns, but we want them to be a little more concerned about the environment," Terri Thill, a services specialist at Orange County Utilities, said.

Most water now comes from wells that poke into the Floridan Aquifer -- a mass of porous, limestone rock that is replenished by nearly 4 feet of rain each year. But most of that evaporates or runs off pavement into lakes, rivers and out to sea. That leaves only about 7 inches to sink into the ground to replenish the aquifer.

Each day, Central Florida pumps about 600 million gallons from the aquifer. If the region drains the aquifer much further, it will dry lakes and wetlands and reduce the amount of water flowing from springs. So saving water is a mission growing more urgent each day.

Half of all the public-drinking water flowing to homes is sprayed on lawns and landscaping, and half of that is wasted. People typically water too often, and their sprinklers flow during rainstorms or water the pavement. Poorly designed sprinkler systems also waste water.

Rain sensors, which are required by law, are supposed to turn off automatic sprinklers, but often don't work or aren't even installed.

Treated sewage can be used for lawn-watering, and many utilities are trying to make it more available. But many communities now don't have enough of the reclaimed water to meet residential demand.

In less than 10 years, experts with the St. Johns River Water Management District expect that Central Florida will need 748 million gallons of water a day. So the district and utilities are making plans to build large, regional treatment plants that pump from the St. Johns River. The first is expected to start up in southeast Orange County in 2012 at an ultimate cost of more than $200 million for a daily supply of about 40 million gallons.

In the meantime, the only way to ward off a water crisis is through conservation.

The restrictions that start March 1 will cover the district's 18 counties, stretching from Orlando to beyond Jacksonville. Portions of Orange and Osceola counties are covered by the South Florida Water Management District, which expects to leave water-restriction rules to local-government officials. But they are likely to fall in line with St. Johns' district rules.

Limiting sprinkling to two days a week will be new to most areas outside Central Florida because they haven't had any restrictions up to this point -- other than orders not to run sprinklers between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. That rule, in effect since 1991, applies to the entire district.

To soften the permanent rules somewhat, the St. Johns district decided that residents can select which two days a week they want to irrigate their grass.

But Central Florida utility officials are all but outraged by that allowance.

"There is no way you can enforce it when a resident picks their own two days," said Ruth Hazard, a coordinator for Seminole County Utilities.

So the rules set for March 1 also will allow utilities and their local governments the option of sticking with the preset water days in place since 2001. Many in Central Florida indicated they will do just that, although weeks or months of rewriting local ordinances lie ahead.

The shift to permanent rules alone might not solve the water crisis. But its importance is clear: Conservation is growing more urgent.